RWBY: The Grimm Side
by NeoTK
Summary: Three years after The Grimm attack, people are struggling to survive in the decaying world. Ruby and the other survivors try to find out why the Grimm attacked then and how they can regain power to stop them. But something is lurking just below the surface, something even they had not anticipated.
1. Chapter 1 - A new era

**Chapter 1 – A new era**

_"Legends, stories scattered through time._

_Mankind has grown quite fond of accounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts of a forgotten past._

_Man, born from dust, was strong, wise, and resourceful. But he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction, the creatures of Grimm, set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning Man's brief existence... to the Void._

_However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change, and in time Man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named 'Dust'. Nature's wrath in hand, Man lit their way through the darkness. And the shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly... life._

_But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die._

_And when they are gone, darkness will return..._

_So you may prepair your Gardians... Build you monuments to a so-calld free world. But take heed. There will be no victory in strength..."_

_-RWBY Vol. 1 Episode 1_

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by... Ruby Rose" Weiss stared puzzled at Ruby standing next to her, when Ozpin pointed out Ruby to be the leader of the group instead of her. Ruby on the other hand was happy about her new title. Not even 2 seconds passed before her sister Yang embraced her with the words "I'm so proud of you!". Ozpin ended with the words "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year". If only he knew the year would not even begin for the new students. The members from Team RWBY had not yet left the podium before the raid alarms sounded around the city. Many of the students and teachers ran up on the balcony along the wall in the huge banquet hall, where the team building ceremony took place. From there they could see all the way down the city, where smoke was popping up everywhere and explosions could be seen. The sounds of explosions were overheard until now because of the ceremony, but since the crowd grew more silent everyone could hear them. Soon after the doors to the banquet hall slammed open and a man ran as fast as he could up to Ozpin. "The Grimm.. They have broken our defences!" Ozpin saw the man was severely injured and made sure that he came under immediate treatment, where after he ordered all students to be ready for battle.  
>Ruby and her team wasted no time. They entered their locker codes into their communicators so the lockers landed just outside the front doors of the banquet hall, where they grabbed their weapons on the way out. When they came out they saw the Grimm had already reached the bottom of the cliff which the school was placed on top of. They ran towards the Grimm to prevent them from closing in on the school, while being followed by the students who were present. Soon after the older students also joined the battle.<p>

**3 years later...**

"We have to move the people to a place with more supplies!" said Ruby to her sister while they walked around in one of the dilapidated malls, where they searched for canned food. "Yeah I know, but where can we go? We're save here. Unnecessary fights against the Grimm at this point would be suicide since we're almost out of ammo." Ruby pushed over a shelf to see what was underneath. "But we will starve here! We already lost so many, and we don't even know how many students made it 3 years ago... Both Blake and Weiss disappeared then." Yang picked up 2 cans she found which still looked good. "I know, but we still have Pyrrha, Coco and Jaune." She picked up another can, which had rolled under one of the counters. "Yeah, and the 64 other people who can't defend themselves." Yang looked at Ruby. "I know, I know. We can discuss it with the others, when we get back, but I really don't want to move unnecessarily from here if we end up losing as many people as the last time. It's a loss I don't want to witness again."

After several hours of searching for food, they went back to the camp they had established, in the basement of one of the collapsed buildings. It wasn't optimal at all, but being picky was not an option in this kind of survival situation. They dropped off the newly found supplies, and a group of people arranged and handed out rations for everyone. Ruby and Yang went and sat down with the three former classmates. Pyrrha looked at them. "How did it go today?" Ruby shook her head. "We have to move again. There is no food left in this place. We have to find a place where we can hunt for food instead of searching for canned food in mall-ruins." Pyrrha got her point and nodded in understanding. Coco, who had been laid-back, with her feet up on a table, which really was actually just a big part of a collapsed wall, took her feet down from it and sat up correctly. "But where can we move to? We are on the outskirts of Vale and the rest of the city is filled with Grimm as far as we know. For us to be able to hunt for food, we have to go outside of the city, where there are even more Grimm." Ruby sighed. "I know... But... if we stay here, we starve! So we have to figure out some kind of plan."  
>One of the people in charge of the food came over and placed a bowl in front of each of them. The amount of food was not worth bragging about. After the third spoonful the ration was gone. Jaune joined the discussion right after the meal. "If our problem is that we need to move to search for food, but we are afraid that something will happen to us while we do it, then I suggest that a small group of two or three people leave and find a place which seems more promising. We can keep in contact with our communicators. There should still be enough power on them to do one more task, if we only keep one of them on in each place." Yang looked surprised at him. "Maybe he's not that smart, but when he says something useful, it sure IS the most useful thing being said ever!" The others giggled a little by that comment except Jaune who was a little offended. In any case, the plan was ready and Ruby and Yang decided to leave the next morning.<p>

When morning arrived, they left. Because of their small number of people, they could easily sneak by the Grimm in the city without ending up in a battle. An hour went by and they reached the city gate. Luckily there were no Grimm by the gate, and so they sneaked out of the city, but they did not come very far before they fell through a hole in the ground, which suddenly appeared right underneath their feet.


	2. Chapter 2 - The undergrund city

**Chapter 2 – The underground city**

Although they were surprised by suddenly falling through the ground, they quickly picked up the pace and grabbed obstacles on the way down to soften their landing. When they came down, they looked around and saw, that they had landed in an underground city. They scouted the place and wondered, how a city of this size could exist under Vale. Had they known of its existence sooner, this could have been the perfect getaway for the people in the city above. Further search led to the discovery of huge warehouses filled with still edible canned food – but even better they found ammunition and Dust inside many of the warehouses as well. Ruby turned to Yang "Could this have been one of the military's storage facilities?" Yang shrugged "Dunno, but we could certainly survive a long time down here and restock our equipment." Yang pulled out her communicator and was just about to contact the others, when it suddenly rang. She answered it, but before she could say a word, she heard Jaune's voice "Come back quickly! The Grimm are attacking us!" Both Ruby and Yang heard a lot of commotion in the background. Ruby had already begun to look for an exit but with no luck. Yang glanced at her "Take all the ammunition you can carry, and I'll make sure to find a way out of here!" Both sisters grabbed all they could, and Yang found the way back to the hole they fell down from. She grabbed Ruby and threw her all she could up towards the hole. Ruby then used her Crescent Rose to launch herself up the rest of the way. Yang proceeded to launch herself up the same way as Ruby using her Ember Celica. With both of them on the surface they ran towards the camp in the city, but now with fully loaded weapons they did not care how many Grimm they met on the way – they were all slaughtered.

After a short while they arrived at the camp, which was packed with Grimm. Pyrrha and Coco stood against them, while Jaune led people away from harm. Yang looked at Ruby "Ready to kick some butt, sis?" And Ruby nodded. Yang jumped up in the air raising her fist ready to beat someone. She dropped down among a large group of Bearwolfs, where she slammed her fist into the ground, which caused a shock wave that threw the Grimms through the air in all directions. When a little opening was made to reach the camp, Ruby took off at full speed, while she swung Crescent Rose gracefully through the air and killed one Grimm after another on the way. Yang continued to stand up against the Grimm, preventing them to get closer to the camp, until Ruby reached Pyrrha and Coco. Pyrrha saw her and was about to say something to her, but only managed to open her mouth before Ruby interrupted her "Here! Take these and get ready!" She threw all spare ammunition she had on her to Pyrrha and Coco, and quickly returned to help her sister. Pyrrha and Coco looked strangely at each other, but quickly proceeded to reload and join the battle.

When night fell upon Vale, they had finally taken down the last of the Grimm in the area. Tired and exhausted the sat down on the ground. Pyrrha glanced at Ruby curiously "Where did you get all this ammunition?" Ruby, who was extremely tired after the battle, lay flat on the ground and didn't even bother to sit up or look at Pyrrha while answering her "We found an underground city. There's plenty of food and stuff for a while..." Yang added "If we can move the people down there, we can get by for a while with no problems" They did not want to wait too long before departing, but recovering was a huge priority. It ended up getting dark, before they were ready to leave. Yang and Pyrrha took the lead of the group, Jaune was in the middle, while Coco and Ruby secured the back of the group. Ruby looked over at Coco "Did we lose anyone in the battle..?" Coco subtly looked down "Unfortunately, yes. We lost 2 people" The frustration and sadness on Ruby's face was apparent. She wanted to be a Huntress to protect people and maintain peace, and when she was moved ahead 2 years to get into Beacon, it was a dream come true. The happiness of becoming the leader of her group was the best thing that could happen. Never would she have wanted something like this situation to happen. The loss of 2 more people added into to this equation just triggered Ruby's anger. She swore she would put an end to the Grimm and create peace in the world again.  
>After half an hour of walking they arrived at the hole in the ground that Ruby and Yang fell down through earlier. They found a rope, which they used to let people down in the underground city.<p>

The next morning started early, when people were setting up their new camp. Some of the people searched some of the nearby buildings and found working generators. Turning them on made them able to turn the lights on. In doing so, the light revealed the grand scale of the underground city, which from their perspective had the size to hold thousands of people. None of the people in the group had heard of an underground city before – not even the old military man they had in the group, and he was assured it didn't belong to the military either. As the day went by, the new camp had taken shape, and people began to settle down. People in the group were searching the place and some of them found uniforms and fabric and called over Ruby and the others. They quickly became aware of their dirty and shredded clothes. These were just random pieces of clothing put together from destroyed clothing stores and abandoned houses. It had been 3 years since the chaos started, and the main focus wasn't exactly making character-fitting clothing. An old lady from the group wanted to repay the 5 Hunters by making some new clothes for them and started passionately right away. Ruby and the others put on some of the uniforms in the meantime. Yang held on of them up and looked on the logo on the back of it, which was a tigers head in red with 3 gashes behind it. Yang tilted her head "Isn't that the logo for..." Coco interrupted her before she could say any more "Yes, for the White Fang. Velvet told me all she knew about them, because I wanted to know why she was being picked on. According to her, the White Fang is a group of extremist Faunus, who use violence and intimidation for their recognition, but because of that ALL Faunus, even those who are not associated with them, are blamed in society." Yang put the uniform down "But what are their uniforms doing here then?" Pyrrha added "Could it have something to do with the Dust robberies, which took place 3 years ago? What if it was all part of a major operation and they used this place to hide it, but had to leave because of the Grimm attack?" Ruby looked slightly confused at Pyrrha "Wasn't it that Torchwick guy and some men he had hired from Junior, who I met back then..?" Yang interrupted "Yes, but he may as well have worked together with several people. So.. you think that this is all they have stolen?" Pyrrha looked around and nodded "That would be my guess." Ruby walked towards the exit of the building "Well, it doesn't matter now anyway. With Grimm everywhere... We as Huntsmen and Huntresses have other more important things to take care of..." The others nodded, and they all left the building.

That evening, for the first time in several months, they all had a proper meal and even a bath, since there were bathing facilities present as well. Not long after that they went to bed. Jaune collected all the communicators to be charged in the building, where the generators were located. He then went to bed as well. Later that night, without anyone noticing, a red dot on one of the communicators started blinking faintly, but it slowly became stronger and stronger.


	3. Chapter 3 - In the Shadows

**Chapter 3 – In the Shadows**

The next morning arrived. The morning sunlight shone through the hole in the ceiling, across some of house tops and hit the back wall. Ruby woke up and wanted to stretch, but when she tried to lift her arms in the air, she noticed they had been tied together on her back. She looked down and saw her legs had been tied as well. She cried out "Yang! Did you...", but she stopped abruptly when she felt a piece of cold metal touching her throat, while an arm held her head firmly in place. She then heard a female voice "White Fang! What are you doing here?!". Ruby gulped nervously before answering "W-w-we're not ...", the voice interrupted angrily "Don't lie to me! I'm not stupid, you're wearing their uniforms!". Ruby was about to answer, when she suddenly heard Yang's voice calling "DUCK!" Ruby felt the hand on her head loosen their grip and used that chance to quickly pop under the blade and lay completely flat on the ground just before Yang's hand flew over her face. The figure, which had threatened Ruby, however, was gone. Yang looked down on Ruby still in punch-position "Who was that?". Ruby shrugged "Dunno. She didn't mention her name, but she didn't seem very fond of the White Fang, though." Yang helped Ruby sit up, so she could remove the rope. Ruby looked around and saw that everyone else had been tied as well. "Yang? Didn't she tie you too?" Yang giggled and grinned "Yeah, but no measly rope can hold me back!"

People gradually woke up and saw they were tied up. Some panicked others just went back to sleep assuming it was a dream. Yang and Ruby untied them and eventually everyone was set free. As the day went on, more and more of the underground city was explored. They found an underground railway, which didn't seem to have been used for many years. Besides that, there was not much else in the city. On the way back to camp, Ruby and the other four agreed on a shift pattern for keeping watch that night, so the person, who attacked them in the morning, didn't surprise them again.

The rest of the day went on peacefully and eventually night's moonlit sky could be seen from the underground city. Ruby had chosen to be the first one on guard duty. Her watch passed without any problems. That was also the case for both Coco and Pyrrha. The time had come for Yang to stand guard, and things were peaceful. Around an hour later, though, she suddenly heard some cans topple over, after which she heard footsteps. She knew no one from the camp was gone, so she began to follow the sounds. She saw a shadow jump quickly from building to building and Yang tried to chase after it, but lost track when it disappeared suddenly, like snow in the sun. Yang walked around quietly to see if she could find the person again, but without any luck. She stood still a few minutes to check a final time, but turned around to get back to the camp – she was put to a halt after only two steps, when she felt a blade at her throat. "What is the White Fang doing here..!?" a voice half-whispered in a desperate tone. Yang let out a big sigh "Look honey, I'm NOT a member of the White Fang, understand? And if you think that little blade of yours can threaten me, then you're very wrong!" Yang quickly but steadily bend her arms in a 90° angle, and suddenly a startling sound of guns could be heard. It was Yang using her gauntlets to fire her arms back hitting the shadowy figure right in the stomach with her elbows, resulting in the figure kneeling down, squirming in pain and shock from the sudden blow. Yang turned around quickly and was about to punch the figure again, but stopped abruptly in surprise, when she saw who the figure was. A girl with long curly black hair and pale white skin, laying on the ground gasping for air. Yang stared with disbelief at her, but quickly got down on her knees and held the girl in her arms in an upright position, so she could breathe properly "...Blake..?" Blake's eyes flinched open and she starred at Yang intensely "*cough* I-is it really you, Yang?" Yang smiled widely and excitedly hugged Blake in happiness over the reunion. Meanwhile Blake turned all shades of blue and gasped even more for air than before. Yang noticed and quickly let go, scratched her head and apologized. She then noticed Blake's cat ears. "Wait a sec.! You're a faunus?" she burst out in surprise. Blake flinched and looked over at Yang "Y-yeah, and you're not from the White Fang" Blake forced a little smile in spite of her stomach pain. Yang found a wall they could lean up against until Blake recovered.

While they were sitting there, they told each other what happened in the last 3 years since they left the school to fight the Grimm. Yang told Blake how she and Ruby together with the others tried to save as many people from Vale as possible. From there, they tried to survive with whatever supplies they could find. As time went on they sadly lost more and more people until they became this small group. Also, except the three other students they had in the camp, they didn't find anyone else from the school.  
>Blake's story however was a little more eventful and somehow more tragic than Yang's. She ended up in a group with Weiss and two others from the school. They managed to save a small group of people as well. During the first six months they found another Beacon-student, who chose to accompany them. Then one day half a year later a group of military men came to their location in a large truck-like vehicle. They were not controlled by the military, though, but Weiss' father, who had come to rescue Weiss and lead her to a safe location. At the time Blake had not revealed her true species to anyone. Weiss persuaded her father to let the people, whom Weiss and Blake rescued, get on board as well, since the vehicle was rather huge. While the people walked in the vehicle however, some of Weiss' father's closest men saw Blake and contacted the Schnee Dust Company's security department, since they recognized her, from a company wanted-list. When Blake was about to enter the vehicle, she was grabbed by two military men and led away. Both Blake and Weiss were startled by the sudden action taken, but Weiss' father quickly showed Weiss the security footage of Blake being involved with a train robbery. Weiss' skin became more pale than normal and she looked at Blake in anger and hurt. She quickly decided that leaving her behind was the best course of action. Eventually they left and thus left Blake behind alone and vulnerable. She then sought shelter in the underground city, of which she heard about, when she was still a member of the White Fang. There she had been the last 2 years.<br>Yang was disgusted by the actions of Weiss and her father – just leaving a person behind like that. Maybe Blake was guilty of something relevant 3 years ago, but in these kind of situations one should be able to see past this.

When Blake had regained the ability to breath properly again, Yang went back to camp and Blake returned to her little camp to get some sleep. The next morning Yang explained the whole thing, except the detail about Blake being an ex-member of the White Fang, and simply excused her for despising them, because of them giving faunus a bad reputation. Blake was then summoned to the camp by Yang. She was immediately hugged to bits by Ruby, who couldn't believe her eyes at first. Blake was certainly accepted in the group.

After a couple of weeks, Blake had become a stable part of the everyday routines in the camp. She helped around with the best of her abilities. She thoroughly held Yang at a distance, because of her tendency to nuzzle Blake's cat ears, when she was being inattentive. By now they had also received their new clothes made by the old lady – Blake also received a set of clothes. The old lady designed the clothes matching the hunters' wishes, and the results were excitingly close to their original clothing styles – allowed by the current circumstances.  
>This place was so perfect for everyone, but still Ruby despaired inside. True, they had found a peaceful place to live, but this didn't solve the Grimm problem at hand. The others had noticed Ruby's subtle change in behaviour, but didn't quite know how to handle it. This was until one morning a little boy from the group came running with a letter addressed to Ruby and Yang. The boy told, how he saw a bird dropping it in the middle of a sunlit spot on the ground. Ruby and Yang looked curiously at each other and opened the letter quickly.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4 - Alice Blue

**Chapter 4 – Alice Blue**

"To Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose. I know you two to be amazing Huntresses and I therefore need your help. I initiated some research on the cause of the Grimm attacks not long after their occurrences. My research led me to The Grimm Research Institute of Molecular Manipulation, which is located below the centre of the City of Vale. To enter this facility you will need the key card included in this letter." Ruby opened the envelope again to find the key card. "This key card is to be used on the door to a store called 'Underground Style'. Sadly I've not been able to reach this location for 1½ years, since the path thereto is constantly blocked by many Grimm. I've not been able to continue my research for that reason, so I hope you will continue this for me."  
>Everyone paused for a good minute before Ruby interrupted suddenly "I-is that all?" Yang flipped the letter around "Yup, seems like it. I wonder who send it and where the person knows us from, though." Ruby looked at the key card. The picture was all scratched so she couldn't see who the owner was, the same happened with the name. Neither of them had heard of any Grimm research institute before, but that didn't stop them from wanting to go there to see what the deal was. Ruby, Yang and Blake then chose to go and find the place, while the other three stayed behind to protect the group.<p>

Blake showed the others a more accessible exit from the underground city, which led to Mountain Glenn, a city which was left deserted, because of especially many Grimm attacks. The number of Grimm there had depleted a lot since then, though. Because of this they travelled effortlessly through the city and up to the gate to the City of Vale. Within this city, however, the easy trip was over. Everywhere they looked, Grimm were crowding and the group saw no other alternative but to fight their way through the hoards.  
>After a long battle they finally reached the centre of the City of Vale, but the night was already falling upon them, despite their early departure. They therefore chose to take shelter for the night to rest, so they could continue the next day with renewed vigour.<p>

They started a small bon fire on the second floor in one of the ram-shackled tower blocks, which they had taken refuge in. Yang shared some rations with the others to eat. "What do you think we'll find there?" Blake asked, before taking a bite of her food. Yang shrugged and mumbled with food in her mouth "Dunno, but I hope we can find some clues about this whole Grimm thing." Ruby swallowed a piece of bread and added "I really hope we can find out how to stop the Grimm once and for all..!" That night they had guard shifts, as well, so they wouldn't be surprised by sudden Grimm attacks.

When morning came, they prepared to find the institute, but suddenly Blake shushed on them. Her cat ears twitched rapidly as she listened to something. "Can you hear it?" Yang and Ruby looked confused at each other and said 'no' in unison. Blake crawled over to a window where a pane, amazingly enough, wasn't shattered. She watched over the city square and beckoned the other two over to her side. "Over there!" She pointed in the direction of a small alley between two houses. Neither of the two could see anything. Blake whispered "It sounds like someone fighting over there." Yang starred confused at Blake "You sure..? Maybe it's just your imag-" Yang was abruptly cut off, when Blake pointed at a girl, who came running through the alley followed by a flock of seven or so Beowolves. Ruby reacted quickly to this and she wasted no time. She had already jumped out the nearest broken window and shouted to the others "Come on! We have to help her!" Blake and Yang followed her right away. They landed heavily on the ground two floors down and ran as fast as they could. They were a few feet away from the girl when she suddenly twisted her ankle and fell to the ground. One of the Beowolves quickly jumped to attack her, but didn't reach her before Ruby flew in front of the girl like a hurricane and swept the head off the Beowolf with her scythe. When Yang and Blake reached them, the six other Beowolves were quickly history. The girl, who had a rather small build, was clearly in pain from her twisted ankle. Yang picked her up and carried her, and the group quickly hurried back when they heard more Grimm coming towards them.

When they reached their camp in the tower block, Yang put the girl down. She looked very fragile, very thin, with old torn clothes, which were too large for her. Her short, blonde hair was unkempt and very messy, as well. "Are you okay?" Yang asked while she sat down beside the girl. She then looked carefully up at Yang with a pained expression. "Yeah well.. Apart from my ankle hurting, I am" Yang began treating the girl's foot "What were you doing in that alley anyway? More importantly, how did you manage to survive for so long?" The girl wailed a bit as Yang bent her foot. "I was looking for food... My father trained me to become a huntress, so I'm quite experienced in combat. My semblance allows me to be one with shadows, so normally I hide from the Grimm, but I've gotten so weak lately. I haven't had the strength to use my skills-" "And that's why you were chased like that, huh?" Yang interrupted. "Yeah..." Ruby made some food for her in the meantime. "What's you name, by the way?" She asked the girl. She accepted the bowl of food from Ruby "My name is Alice Blue". She wailed again when Yang gave her foot a little smack. Yang put her hands on her hip in a confident way "Don't worry! Your ankle is neither sprained nor broken, it's apparently just a little sore after the fall. So! How old are you, Alice?" All of them had noticed her young appearance. "I'm 13." Blake, who was guarding by the window, glanced at her "Are you alone, or are there others, who may need help?" Alice turned her head towards Blake, but quickly looked down on her lap "I-I'm alone. I was separated from my family under the attack 3 years ago" Yang suddenly stood up in anger "Stupid Grimm! Destroying everything, splitting families, making us live in fear!" Ruby, who was just as angry, tried to keep a level head and cooled Yang down and said "We have to find a way to stop them, but for now we have to focus on finding that institute." Blake glanced at them "What about the girl? We need to get her to safety first." Alice frowned at Blake "I can manage on my own, you know! I've lived here for 3 years, alone! The food you gave really helped, so thanks. Now I just have to wait for my foot not to hurt anymore, then I'm fine." Yang grinned at Blake "Well, it looks like she's a feisty one. I think she is perfectly capable to come along, if what she says is true." Blake was not quite satisfied with that answer, but quickly saw there wasn't much she could do to oppose it. Escorting her back to their camp in the underground city would take too much effort and time, since they had to come back here as well. Blake sighed resignedly and replied "Fine..". Ruby collected the now empty food bowl from Alice and looked curiously at her "Do you have any weapons?" Alice reached for a larger pocket she had sown into the pants she wore "Yeah! I have... Huh, where is it?" She searched frantically for it. "Have you lost it?" Ruby asked concerned "What does it look like, maybe we can search for it." Alice looked teary-eyed up at Ruby "It's a dagger with a Dust chamber ...*sniff*" She quickly dried up the tears and became determined that they should search for it, where the gang found her, since she believed, she had lost it there. Yang, Blake and Ruby agreed this to be the best course of action, as well.

They waited a few hours to be sure Alice's foot wouldn't hurt, when they took off for the search. The area was still infested with Grimm, so they proceeded with stealth. They reached the spot, where Alice tripped, but the dagger was nowhere to be found. They split up to search in the small alleyways around the area. Ruby saw it and waved the others over. It was lying on the ground at the end of a small dead-end path surrounded by a larger group of territorial Beowolves. Ruby whispered "Are you ready to get the dagger back?" She looked behind her at the others, but in confusion she looked around "Where's Alice?!"


	5. Chapter 5 - Burning Shadows

**Chapter 5 – Burning Shadows**

Blake and Yang looked around, but they could not find Alice either. "She was here just a minute ago" Yang said in a subdued voice so the Beowolves would not hear her. Suddenly they heard some electric crackle noises coming from the direction of the group of Beowolves and the three girls quickly turned their heads towards them. They saw a shadow rising from the ground between the Beowolves, where Alice's dagger was. Slowly the shadow became Alice herself surrounded by electricity. The Grimm responded quickly and proceeded to attack her immediately, but Alice swiftly removed her dagger from the scabbard and rotated once around herself with the dagger in her hand with a stretched arm. The dagger lighted up as a lightning struck down in the group of Beowolves and they all collapsed, lifeless on the ground. Ruby and the others stared astonished at this scene, but quickly snapped out of it, when they heard more Grimm storming towards them, which was understandable considering the noise Alice's attack created. Blake jumped up on a nearby roof to see which directions the Grimm were coming from. She paled when she saw the massive amount of blackness coming towards them and she rapidly looked around to find a safe path. A very solid building, which was only a street away, was the safest option. Blake rushed down to the others and guided them to this location. Upon arriving the door was locked, but Yang easily kicked the door open, let the others in and closed it tightly. She looked around for something to block the door and she quickly found some solid iron counters, which she threw in front of the door.

"Well, that was something.." Yang moaned as she leaned against one of the iron counters blocking the exit. Ruby looked over at Alice, who stood with her hand on a pillar while she caught her breath. "That.. was.. AWESOME, Alice!" Ruby exclaimed with a very excited expression. Alice flinched "Ah, ehm, oh that.. that was nothing, really, heh, it was just.. a little-" She suddenly collapsed.

It was already night time when Alice finally regained consciousness. She laid on a very worn couch. Ruby and Yang were sleeping on chairs, while Blake was guarding by one of the windows. "Wh.. what happened?" Alice half whispered as she sat up. Blake glanced at Alice, but returned to look out the window. "I guess you used all of your energy on that attack in the alley." Blake stepped away from the window and walked towards Alice, to give her some food. Yang woke up, when she heard Blake's voice. She glared at Alice with very sleepy eyes "You ok?". Alice laid her hand on her head "I feel a bit weak, b-but I'm fine". Yang grinned a little "Eat up.. get some sleep..and get your... strength back, so you don't... faint... again... zZzZzZ" Yang began to snore loudly. Ruby frowned slightly and tried to kick Yang to make her stop, but Yang snatched her foot and hugged it very tightly. Ruby whined a little, but went back to sleep quickly. Blake giggled a little, but looked back at Alice. "S-sorry if I'm trouble..." Alice said very subdued. Blake smiled "Don't worry, you're not. You just need to get your strength back, so relax." Blake squeezed Alice's hand softly and walked back to the window.

When morning arrived Ruby woke up the others, since she was the one on guard duty at the time. Alice looked a lot better and felt much more energized. While they ate breakfast, they discussed how to get to the centre of the city. Alice responded "But that place is just a big hole in the ground and it's teeming with Grimm!" Yang looked curiously at her "You've been there?" Alice nodded "Yeah, when the attacks began three years ago, my family and I lived around that area. After that, I stayed there in hope of my family returning to get me, but they never showed up." Ruby looked confused "Didn't the person in the letter just say the path was blocked off by Grimm, the person didn't say the place was a literal hole in the ground." Yang nodded affirmatively and stood up "Whatever, we have to find the place anyway." Alice's eyes widened in excitement "If you want, I can show you a shortcut to the place. It goes through the sewer system. I used that path a lot, when I had to go to this part of the city." And so, the plan was set. They finished their breakfast and started packing for the trip.

Alice led them through the sewers, where there were only a few smaller Grimm, which were easy to take out. Finally arriving near the square at the centre of the city, they found a staircase leading up to a higher ground, not very far from the sewer exit. This overview proved Alice's statement as true – the square was packed with Grimm and the ground was completely demolished. They looked around the area to see if they could spot the shop mentioned in the letter, and to their big surprise it was relatively easy to find. Though, now the problem at hand was to get there without being overrun by Grimm. "Well, we have to get over there somehow." Yang said pondering. Alice looked puzzled at the others "Why do you wish to go there, in the first place?" Ruby briefed Alice in on the letter and the mission as a whole. "So, you say you need this key card to enter the door in that store over there?" Ruby nodded confirming "Yeah, but how do we get past these Grimm? This is a problem..". Alice giggled. "Wh-what are you laughing for?" Blake sneered. Alice stroke a confident pose "Have you already forgotten what my semblens is? I can become one with shadows and travel through them" she said tauntingly. She asked Ruby to stand close the edge of the rooftop. She then proceeded to stand on Ruby's shadow and slowly sank into it. Ruby freaked out a little by the sight of Alice disappearing completely. Alice suddenly popped out from the neighbouring building and waved at them. She quickly returned to the others "If you lend the key card to me, I can open the door without getting noticed". The others looked at each other and Yang nodded "Yeah, that might be our only option, but are you really ok with this, Alice?" None of them wanted to expose Alice to that kind of danger, but considering the circumstances they agreed on the plan. Yang inhaled vigorously and put her hands steadily on Alice's shoulders "Take care of yourself! If you encounter any kind of danger, come back quickly!" Yang exhaled. She then gave Alice a very comforting hug "I-I will.." Alice stuttered with a blushing face. Yang let her go and Alice disappeared in the shadows again.

About a couple of minutes later Ruby, Yang and Blake could see her popping up by the shop. Luckily none of the Grimm detected her presence and she quickly used the key card on the door. A while went by where Alice didn't move, she then suddenly disappeared into the shadows and soon after she appeared on the rooftop again. As soon as she appeared Yang tackled her with a big hug. Alice gazed in Ruby's direction "Does she do that often?" Ruby scratched her neck and laughed nervously "It happens". Yang stepped back from the hug hopping around very energetic "So, did you open the door?". "Yeah, but it's not a normal entrance it seems. When I used this key card, an elevator came up from under ground" Alice replied. Blake looked over at the Grimm "So we have to get over there". Ruby sighed "It's suicide..." Yang laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder "I've got an idea, but you have to be prepared to run and pick me up on the way" Ruby starred puzzled at Yang "What do you have in mind?" "Do you remember what the old lady, who made our new clothes, told us how she had sown Dust into our clothes, but that it was unstable and should only be used in emergency situations, since it will drain all energy from the user? Well, this seems like that kind of emergency" Ruby frowned at this risky plan. Yang wrapped her arms around Ruby's shoulders "Don't worry, sis, I'll be fine, just be sure to pick me up, when you run". Yang looked around to find the tallest building near the city square and proceeded to climb up on the rooftop of that building. She breathed heavily, took a few steps back, positioned herself in a running position and ran off the building with a graceful jump. Whilst in mid-air her clothes began glowing in a pure reddish gold colour, which quickly formed a ball of fire around her. Yang grinned widely "Get ready to taste a piece of Yang!" She fired her gauntlets behind her to boost her speed downwards. The Grimm reacted to the gunshots from above, but before they could do anything, Yang hit the ground unleashing a massive crash and a shock wave of flames send most of the Grimm flying. Ruby, Blake and Alice prepared to run as soon as the smoke thinned out. They saw the Grimm from further away running towards the explosion and the gang quickly ran towards the shop. Blake carried Alice on her back for faster travel. Ruby could reach incredible speed using her semblens and she swiftly reached the location of the weakened Yang "Did..it..work..?". Ruby nodded and quickly picked up Yang and carried her on her back and ran towards the elevator. She progressed a lot slower, though, because of the extra weight and the surrounding Grimm approached them very quickly.


	6. Chapter 6 - GRIMM

**Chapter 6 – G.R.I.M.M  
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Ruby could hear the Grimm closing in on her, but she focused herself to keep running and didn't look back. She heard something like a sword swinging through the air, which changed to something cutting through flesh. At first Ruby believed it to be Blake's doing, but she quickly glimpsed Blake at the elevator in front of her. Shortly after, Ruby arrived there herself. She sat Yang down inside the elevator, where Blake and Alice stood – Blake then pressed the only button inside the elevator, which led them downwards. Just before the doors closed, Ruby turned around to see the city square piling up with dead Grimm, but there was no person in sight. She glanced over a Blake "Did you see anybody out there?" Blake looked slightly confused at Ruby and shook her head. Ruby wondered if she was just hearing things, but something must have killed the Grimm, which were chasing them.

The elevator moved downwards slowly for a while. They had to be well below the ground when it finally stopped and the doors opened. They stepped out, Blake and Ruby supporting Yang, who was still exhausted from the intense attack. They looked around the room, in which they had entered. It was illuminated by lights in the ceiling, but most of them had died out and the remaining were flickering occasionally. The room itself had concrete floors and at one point white walls. The room was wrecked, like there had been a battle. The walls and floor were caked in dried blood. There were bullet holes everywhere and scratch marks resembling those the Grimm produce. On the opposite site of the room seen from the entrance was a crushed iron gate. It seemed like someone -or something- had broken right through it. Alice starred at the scene wide-eyed and frowned. She was quite young, even if she had been on her own the last couple years, a scene like this was still tough to witness. Oddly enough there were no bodies, it was like they were removed from the scene.

They walked through the broken gate, which led to a corridor. On one of the walls they found a map of the area. Most of it was torn, though. Inspecting the map closely, the corridor led to a large hall, which led to a computer central. They made a goal in reaching this room. The corridor was long and had many doors, leading to laboratories and meeting rooms judging by the interior leftovers. At the end of the corridor they found the door leading to the large hall. It was half open and a bright light shone through the crack between the door frame and the door. Opening the door, the girls were met with sunlight. The ceiling had a huge hole only covered slightly by numerous pieces of rubble, iron pipes, wires and growth. This had to be right below the city square, where the ground had collapsed. The other site of the hall, where the path to the computer room was supposed to be, was cut off because of this, so they had to find another way around. The hall was equipped with a map like the one in the corridor, but was less torn. Luckily there was a second path leading to the computer room from the hall.

The door to the newly discovered path was relatively easy to find with only a few thing blocking the door, which was easily removed. "R-Ruby... Blake.. Le..let's take.. a break.." Yang muttered, when they had walked down the corridor for a few minutes. They sat Yang down on the floor, letting her lean on the wall. "Are you OK, sis?" Ruby said worried. Yang fought to keep her eyes open, but looked up at Ruby with a faint smile "Y-yeah, don't worry. I'm just a b-bit exhausted.. Let's rest a bit while we're still safe. I-I'm not very useful in this state, i-if we run into any danger..". Blake and Ruby agreed.

After a few hours of rest, where they had something to eat and Yang slept soundly, Alice began walking around, since she became restless, sitting on the floor for so long. Suddenly a loud scream could be heard from Alice. Ruby, Blake reacted quickly and ran towards the sound – meanwhile Yang woke up, stumbled on her feet and followed Ruby and Blake, still woozy from exhaustion. Through a door at the end of the hallway they arrived in a laboratory, resembling one of the many labs they had seen on their way here. Unique to this room, however, was the chambers made with thick glass. They were shattered and some kind of turquoise liquid was oozing out from the bottom of the chambers. Alice stood in the entrance frozen in place. Yang looked down on her "What's wrong, Alice?" Alice twitched as Yang asked her the question and pointed over at one of the broken chambers "A-a spider..!" she shrieked. Yang began laughing uncontrollably "Are you afraid.. of spiders?! You can't scare us like that, because of a tiny spider, HAHAHA!" Ruby walked over to the chamber and found the poor little creature. She squatted down to the spider's level "Now, now Mr. Spider, you can't scare the cute little girl like that. Now go away, you little bugger!" The little spider then crawled off in a very scared manner. Ruby tip-toed over to Alice and said singingly "Now it's gone ~". Alice looked embarrassed up at Ruby and murmured "Thanks..."

Finally calming down again, they noticed no reaction to Alice's scream earlier. Maybe this place was really completely abandoned. The group continued through the room, through another corridor, which finally led to the door to the computer room. This door was an electronic sliding door, which was stuck fast. This was no problem for the newly energized power house, Yang. She hammered the door a couple times on its weak point and tore it down with a powerful kick, roaring like some kind of beast. The computer room they entered was unlike any room they saw before in this facility. It was almost completely untouched by whatever battle was going on in the rest of the rooms. The room contained one large computer in the middle of the room. It had multiple screens and keyboards attached to it. Blake walked over to one of the keyboards and tapped a button and it booted up. The computer asked for a username and password. Blake turned around and asked "The letter didn't say anything about this, did it?" Yang shook her head "No, the person had not been in here, so I doubt the person knew about this". Blake tilted her head and sighed "Well, how could I have thought it would be that easy. Give me 5 minutes." She started typing a lot of stuff on the computer and neither Ruby or Yang could tell what any of it meant. Suddenly all the screens said 'Welcome' and a load of programs started. Blake turned around again "What kind of info do we need?" Yang shook her head in awe of Blake's hacking abilities, until she realized, Blake must have gained them while she was a member of the White Fang. Yang snapped out of it and replied calmly "Can you find anything about the Grimm attack three years ago?" Blake began tapping quickly on the keyboard and a few minutes later she pointed the attention of the others to one of the screens. "I found this video file. It may contain something useful."

The video started and a man popped up on the screen. His face and lab coat was covered in blood. One of the lenses in his glasses were broken as well and he seemed very nervous. In the background you could hear gunshots and growls from Grimm. "Research Report 42-1337. This will probably be my last report. We did it, though. We could not have foreseen a more successful outcome of our research. We only need to perform one last experiment, then our many years of research are finally complete. Sadly it seems like we are not able to do this. If anyone in any of the other institutes sees this video, find..."

The video ended abruptly and Blake tried to find other relating files, but they were all corrupted. One thing she found, though, was the sharing of this video. Apparently it was sent to 5 different locations, one of them located not very far from Vale and the other 4 located in the other kingdoms. Blake turned towards the others "What now?" Ruby turned around towards the door and put on her hood "We have to travel to find out, what the man on the video tried to tell and find out what happened three years ago, as well. First stop: The institute just outside Vale!" Yang nodded acknowledgedly "We have to get to the bottom of this mystery, it's out duty as huntresses!" Blake turned off the computer "It will be difficult" she said in a calm voice. Ruby quickly added "It's the way we chose to live!" Alice could see the bond between the three girls and their passion regarding this mission at hand. She happily added "So, what are we waiting for?" All three looked surprised at Alice. "What? I'm part of the team too, you can't just leave me here!" She pouted. Yang smiled at her "She so cute, I'll keep her!" Ruby and Alice burst into laughter and even Blake cracked a smile. Yang quickly became serious again, though "Now we just have to find a way out of here. I can't pull off the same stunt as before to get us out of here." Blake grinned a little "Leave it to me, I have an idea".


End file.
